The Forsite Irregulars

Having defeated the Stirges and Spiders the Irregulars head deeper into Stonefang mountain. After several hours (and wishing they’d kept their horses) they are eventually stopped by a solid stone barrier, dropped across the entire width of the pass.

The bard pipes up, “We’ve come to the Gate that those dwarves mentioned. We need to get to the other side.”

The rogue investigates the stairs – which has a latching mechanism for the big gate which was released and cannot be reset from here – and she checks the doorway to the Gatehouse. “These will certainly be trapped, so stand back…”

After unlocking the door and stepping through, the thief takes an arrow to the knee, from one of at least 4 crossbow traps shooting through slits from the next room. “Curses. Let me check the corridor.”….

“Looks like the whole thing is a minefield. Let me disarm a clear path to the other side. This will take awhile.” {The blue tiles in the image below are eventually disarmed…}

After sharing the triggering mechanism with Florynsael, the mage says "This is interesting, this is “dwarf detector” device, it looks at the chakra – magical spirit signal – that each kind of living thing gives off."

The rogue says “Handy!” And tosses one into her backpack.

As they round the corner, they are attacked by Iron Cobras – and the fighters quickly respond…

After dispatching those gatehouse guardians, the thief discovers a lever that raises and lowers a portcullis on the far side of the corridor. After the party gets beyond it, she pulls the lever. “Better to make sure nothing can come up behind us.”

She checks the door into the main gatehouse area, and notices that the handle is rigged with a “dwarf detector” as well – but she can’t disarm it from here. Quickly, the bard has an idea – “Skraw, my dear Raven Companion, please fly out between the bars and go fetch us a dwarven hand from one of the many dead Glintshield we’ve come across in the tunnel!” and in less than an hour, she’s returned clutching a partial hand (missing several fingers.)

The fighter wraps cloth round his hand holding the corpse part within and gingerly opens the door to see clockwork guardian of some type.

Opening the door completely reveals the main room of the gatehouse, including another guardian, the crossbows that were firing into the hallway, and a large leaver (along with pretty extensive earthquake damage.) Fortunately, the Hammer Automatons have not activated.

The elementalist peeks through a large set of double doors to see…

…a giant dwarf automaton and sets about deciphering the markings on it.

The rest of the party focuses on the giant lever – clearly too tall for dwarves to use, but just about possible for the knight…

He gingerly places the dwarven hand-fragment under his own and pulls with all his might, and with amazing luck is able to pull the lever to the Open position. There is a LOT of grinding and a racket of chains and rock grinding on rock. But, unexpectedly, the lever does not lock in place, he’ll have to hold it as long as he can while the party investigates.

The Bard sends the raven as fast as possible to signal the status of the gate…

But rather than a song contentment, Skraw screechs a caw of alarm! Nostalgio shouts “Close it, close it!” – the fighter was just about to release the lever non-voluntarily anyway, sighing “I won’t be able to do that again.” Rapidly the chains and stone grind again, even louder than before and it ends with a huge BANG!

The Bard is at the arrow-slits and shouts to his companions: “Orcs! Lots of them!”

All the hours spent preserving most of the traps pays off now – as the weaker orcs are mowed down by the crossbows. The elementalist has reanimated the giant dwarf and parks him in the main chamber, as a last line of defense, then moves with the bard and the knight to the front of the room to assist in taking out orcs in the trapped hall.

But, there are tougher orcs bringing up the rear, who use the bodies of the earlier ones to walk safely through the hall, only to come face to face with the mage and the theif, who are waiting safely behind the portcullis.

Eventually the knight joins them, just as the brutish orcs tear the portcullis from its mountings and charge on through.

But, it is too late – the concentrated firepower of the irregulars is too great for them.

After they rest from combat, Edryd orders the Giant “Lever” Automoton to move and hold the lever in the open position while they slip the chain over the release near the door.

The pass through the mountains is 40 foot wide and half as high, but suffering from damage from recent earthquakes, as our heroes find as the travel by foot for several hours…

… before they come upon a statue of a Fire Giant and more than a dozen Stirges, feasting on a half-dozen or so dwarven corpses.

The goblin charges in, and is quickly surrounded!

Battle ensues…

Just at they were about to mop up the leatherwings, those that remained urgently took flight, leaving the area just before another earthquake struck, sending everyone to the ground except the fire-mage, who was insubstantial due to the cloak he’d claimed from Cadavra [see The Scions of Punjar play log with terrain.]

No sooner than they could get back on their feet, giant spiders started appearing from a crack in ceiling.

The spiders all jump onto a different target…

With no rest between fights and the effects of the earthquakes (and no effective AOE targets) our heroes have an unexpectedly tough fight on their hands.

After defeating the arachnids, they finally get a much needed respite before moving deeper in to Mt. Stonefang…

Our heroes disembark the Sult’n Fish aboard their airship, The Slicing Breeze. Their ultimate destination is Gardmore Abbey – but they’ll first have to cross the Ironwall Mountains (by land) in order to reach the Nentir Vale – this means taking the Stonefang Pass, near Timbervale: Their first stop.

After being dropped in Timbervale by Bosnan (who takes the airship home to Punjar), they learn that the area has been beset with small earthquakes that has destabilized the economy in the area, and that no one has come through the pass in months. They investigate the town’s damage, rest the night, purchase horses, and ride off, up the foothills to the Stonefang Pass.

Coming the opposite direction is a squad of wounded and exhausted dwarves…

Their leader, Rangrim Glintshield explains that the pass has been cut off by a great stone the dwarves of old installed as an emergency defense, and that it is overrun with orcs. Quickly, the knight Agüero agrees to have The Irregulars clear the pass and bids them to head to Timbervale to recover.

The continue up the foothills until they encounter a small trading post, and a bridge, crumbling in ruins just before the entrance to the pass. There are giants carved into the entrance, positions to seem as if they are holding back the mountain…

That bridge doesn’t look so good…

[[shute | Shute] checks if it’s safe to cross, when…

Hippogriffins swoop down out of the mountainside. They are soon joined by Giant Archerfish in river. The heroes send their horses back downhill, and buff up for a fight…